Sociology Now, Census Update

parks and sweeping streets). Fourteen percent was incinerated, and 30.6 percent
recycled or composted, but 54.5 percent went into garbage dumps. (BBC, 2005)
Many other countries are not as good at recycling. In poor countries, it typically
doesn’t happen at all: 100 percent of waste goes into landfills. But even rich coun-
tries have a spotty record: 42 percent of municipal waste is recycled in Germany, but
only 12 percent in the United Kingdom, 11 percent in Iceland, and 7 percent in
Australia (BBC, 2005).
Landfills pose two major problems. First, most of the garbage isn’t biodegrad-
able. Petroleum-based products, plastics, and styrofoam stay there forever, which
means that the landfills fill up. A third of American landfills are already full, and
by 2020, four-fifths of them will be full. There will be no place to put the garbage
anymore.
When the garbage is biodegradable, it
degrades into toxic chemicals, which seep into
the groundwater and increase water pollution
or into the air to increase air pollution. Degrad-
ing waste also increases the world’s heat level,
contributing to global warming.
A particularly problematic kind of waste
comes as a by-product of nuclear energy.
Nuclear reactors produce waste that will be
radioactive for thousands of years.

Global Warming.Since the nineteenth century,
the global temperature has increased by about
0.6 degrees Celsius (1.08 degrees Fahrenheit),
primarily because carbon dioxide, aerosols,
and other gases released by human technology
are prohibiting heat from escaping, resulting

THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 645

What Are We Willing to Do?

Regardless of whether environmental threats are exaggerated or not, they do exist. Most environ-

mental advocates say we have to change our behavior in some ways to avert crises. Some people

are very willing to change their behavior, but others discount the threats or do not see them as

immediately relevant. Most people probably fall somewhere in between and engage in such activ-

ity as watching fuel consumption and recycling. So, what do you think?

See the back of the chapter to compare your answers to national survey data.

19.2

What

do

you

think

❍Always

❍Often

❍Sometimes

❍Never

❍Not available

How often do you make a special effort to sort glass or cans or plastic or papers and so on for

recycling?

?

Garbage is among the most

immediate environmental con-

cerns, especially in countries

with high levels of consump-

tion. The United States dumps

more than half of its garbage

in landfills, but by 2020, 80

percent of those landfills will

be “land-full.” n